Most repositories are not Chromium
At a few thousand commits every client here opens effectively instantly. This test only separates them at the extreme, which is exactly where a slow client stops being usable.
Linux
Git GUI clients on Linux, measured
Roundups of Git clients tend to rank on features and screenshots. We pointed ten of them at the Chromium repository on the same Linux machine and timed how long each took to become usable. Three never did.
Results
Ten clients, one repository
Every client was given the same local clone on the same machine and timed from launch until history could be browsed. Peak memory was recorded over the same window.
| Client | Version | Time to open | Memory |
|---|---|---|---|
| GitComet | v0.1.6 | 1s | 265MB |
| GitFiend | v0.45.3 | 1s | 289MB |
| SourceGit | v2026.6 | 3.5s | 301MB |
| SmartGit | v25.1.110 | 18s | 4.8GB |
| GitKraken | v11.10.0 | 25s | 2GB |
| Megit | v0.10.0 | 29s | 14.4GB |
| Gittyup | v2.0.0 | 43s | 2.5GB + 1.5GB indexer |
| gitg | v44 | crashed | crashed |
| ungit | v1.5.30 | crashed | crashed |
| guitar | v1.3.1-1 | crashed | crashed |
Note that Sourcetree and Fork do not appear, because neither ships a Linux build. Figures are a snapshot taken 2026-04 at the versions listed; later releases may behave differently, and your own repository is the test that actually matters.
Reading it
What the numbers do and do not tell you
Memory matters as much as time
Megit peaked at 14.4 GB and SmartGit at 4.8 GB. On a 16 GB laptop that is the difference between a working session and swapping.
Crashing is a result
gitg, ungit and guitar did not complete the run. They are perfectly usable on ordinary repositories; they simply do not scale to this one.
Speed is not the whole product
GitKraken has pull request review and issue tracker integration that GitComet has no equivalent for. The full comparison covers what each does better.
Why
Where GitComet's numbers come from
It reads Git directly
Repositories are read with gitoxide in Rust, not by shelling out to git and parsing text.
It renders on the GPU
The interface is drawn through the GPU, and every long list is virtualised, so a million-commit history costs the same to scroll as a hundred.
It streams
History loads in pages and renders while the walk is still running, so the window is usable before the repository has been fully read.
FAQ
Questions about Git GUIs on Linux
Which Git GUI clients actually run on Linux?
More than most roundups suggest. The ten measured here all have Linux builds: GitComet, GitFiend, SourceGit, SmartGit, GitKraken, Megit, Gittyup, gitg, ungit and guitar. Sourcetree and Fork do not have Linux builds at all.
Which Git GUI is fastest on a large repository on Linux?
In this test GitComet and GitFiend both opened the Chromium repository in about a second. SourceGit took about three and a half seconds. SmartGit, GitKraken, Megit and Gittyup took eighteen seconds or more, and gitg, ungit and guitar did not finish.
How do I install a Git GUI on Linux?
GitComet is packaged for apt on Debian and Ubuntu, the AUR on Arch, Gentoo GURU, Homebrew, and as an AppImage or a .deb, on both x86-64 and ARM64. It runs under Wayland with an automatic X11 fallback, and under WSLg.